Demon Lord Tower

The gang continues their journey to the Demon Lord tower, nothing significant has happened during that time, it was the same routine, they ride on the carriage, eat and continue.

There is a village near the Demon Lord tower, a few hours after departing, Kanami and the others unload their things for the big day tomorrow. The town is quiet and peaceful.

"For a village so close to the Demon Lord's tower, it's rather quiet here," Albo said with a very relieved face.

Kos, confused, started to look around the town for anything suspicious.

"It's true, people always avoid this area due to Trilrak's tower, but nothing seems out of the ordinary here."

The group looks around a bit more, but the village seems normal, the marketplace is lively, children are running around and playing.

Kos goes out to investigate about the Demon Lord while Kanami and Albo look around the village. As they do, Albo grabs Kanami's shoulder and points at the stone in Kanami's bag.

"Kanami, when you use your teleportation crystal, are you going to back home?"

"Ah! After all that you expect me to just go home?"

"I mean, yeah."

Kanami swings her pointer finger from side to side, "No, no, no. I wouldn't just go home."

"Is it because you would want to see me as soon as possible?" Albo asks as her eyes light up, Kanami makes a serious face with a deep voice, "Yes, yes. That's it."

"Wait! It doesn't seem like that's the case!" Albo says as she yells at Kanami In panic.

Kanami looks around the village, she doesn't notice anything unusual going on. However, she has been getting chills all over her body all day.

"Albo, the town that's closest to the demon lord castle is too peaceful, isn't it weird."

"It is, I feel like something's wrong."

"I guess, but remember, not everything is one-sided, and whatever you choose to do, I'll be here for you. Until the end."

Kos walks up to them and informs Albo and Kanami about the Demon Lord,

"Seems like the tower he lives in is empty, there are no monsters here because they fear the Demon Lord, but it's odd; usually, there would be some dangerous beasts in a Demon Lord's lair."

Kanami, still unsure about the Demon Lord's tower, decides to tell Albo to stay on guard.

"Don't worry, I'm not some rookie, but if it's empty, it is better for us, since we will be able to fight him at full strength."

They all depart for the tower, as they go through the large grassy area, Kanami grabs Albo's arm.

"Albo, I think something is not right, It feels... Weird."

"I know, I'm also getting weird vibes from this area in general."

"Maybe we should learn more about the area first? A bit more planning?"

"Nah, It's fine. I'm prepared."

Kanami could tell Albo was excited, but she also knows that her friend isn't stupid, and wouldn't let a chance like this slip away. Kanami had confidence that her best friend would succeed.

They both face Kos, who is only wearing a shirt, jacket, and long pants.

Albo, concerned with Kos' choice of clothing, asks,

"Is that all you're wearing for a big battle?"

"I can't wear fancy armor anymore. I may have lost a lot of my magical power, but my speed is still unmatched."

The group heads towards the tower. The tower is floating and held by some crystal. The tower had rings around it used as a shield toward magic attacks.

However, when they look up, they find that the tower is nearly destroyed, there are bricks everywhere on the ground, and it seems like it would collapse and fall at any moment.

"The tower isn't very Demon Lord-like," Kanami says in a joking manner.

Albo lets out a laugh and exclaims, "True, and I can't believe a legendary Demon Lord lives here."

Albo pauses and looks back at Kanami.

"Well, Kanami, I guess it's time."

Kanami gives Albo a warm smile, she waves her hands and with a warm and calming voice, says, "Take care!"

"I'll make sure to cook something delicious for both of you, so hurry back!"

Kanami takes out a purple stone out of her bag. Teleportation stones are rare in this world, but Albo's family handed her one down in case there was an emergency.

Kanami activates the stone by tracing the rune that is engraved on the stone. She starts to float a few inches off the ground, and particles start to surround her.

"Albo, Kos, I wish you guys the best of luck! Be careful in there!"

"Don't worry about it, Kanami! Kos and I will be eating your sandwiches in a matter of hours!"

The particles around Kanami light up even brighter, and in a flash of light, she disappears.

Albo turns to Kos,

"Well, Kos, it looks like its time for us to shine. Time to kill this Demon Lord and become heroes."

"You're right about that kid. Let us do this entire Kingdom a favor."

As they finish talking, they use their magic to leap towards the entrance and the door.

They find out that the tower isn't floating as high as they thought, it seemed like as time passed, the energy coming from the crystal that held the tower faded away.

Once they reach the door, they open it and head inside.

Albo and Kos enter the tower. Once they enter, they spot armor and weapons are scattered all over the first floor.

"I guess I'm not the first one to try to kill him."

Albo looks around. She notices that the armor and weapons scattered on the ground are just there. She can't find any limbs, and she doesn't see any corpses either.

"It's a little fishy, don't you think, kid?"

"Yeah, where are all the bodies? Where is the blood? The place is too clean and peaceful. It's almost like this was an abandoned blacksmith workshop. But it's not."

As Albo continues talking, she picks up a sword that was on the ground.

"This sword has been used, and you can see small blood marks as if it was used to kill something. Maybe these are soldiers from the war a thousand years ago that tried to kill Trilrak?"

"No, these weapons and armor are far too advanced, this certain material wasn't used in armor until a certain years ago."

Albo looks around more,

"Trilrak has been here for centuries now, which means that it couldn't have been some sort of shop."

"The bodies are gone, no traces of blood. And there are traces of fighting even though the tower is empty."

"We shouldn't stay here for long. Let's keep moving, kid. We need to see what's on the higher levels."

Albo and Kos advance and see a spiraling staircase leading to the second floor. Both use magic to boost their jumps and arrive at the second level.

Right after they arrive at the second level, they see the same things, armor, and weapons, with traces of battle but no blood or bodies anywhere.

This pattern continues until they reach the 10th floor.

Albo and Kos arrive on the 10th floor and are amazed, and they discover that the entire story is a giant library. Albo looks around and is surprised.

"There must be at least a thousand, no, hundred thousand books here."

Kos, also surprised at the size of the library, says,

"Who knew the great and evil Trilrak would be such a reader?"

"Kos, look! A lot of these are spellbooks, but they are also recipe books for spells and alchemy. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but all these books are related to healing."

"A Demon Lord that reads about healing, that's odd."

"I know its strange, but we should keep moving, we can take a look at this library after we beat Trilrak."

They head to the next floor, the eleventh floor.

Once they walk up to the eleventh floor, they see nothing but armor and clothes, but instead of being scattered and battle-scarred like the ones on the previous levels, these were more organized.

"I'm guessing this is his armory. All these clothing are to nullify holy magic."

"The villagers did say he was weak to holy magic, and with him being a Demon Lord, I guess it's not that strange for him to own all this."

Albo takes a closer look and spots a cloak that interests her.

"This cloak, it seems like this one nullifies holy magic the most. Then we have to assume we are going to have to use the highest tier of magic to kill him if he's not using this."

Kos, also looking around, spots some unusual clothing,

"Albo, these gloves."

"Hm? What about them?"

"These gloves are made specifically to control one's soul and essence. It looks like this forces the wandering souls of the dead to obey the user. But, its made with pure demonic magic, that if a normal person used it, they'd go mad."

"We should stay away from those then. But now we know that Trilrak will most likely use armor and equipment far stronger than this."

"Indeed, when we fight him, we might have to be in absolute focus, just because he is weak doesn't mean we can beat him in one swing."

They advance, and as they move up on the tower floors, they find more interesting things, on level 12, there was a bunch of swords that were made specifically to drain blood from people.

The 13th floor was where Albo and Kos found the missing bodies.

"Looks like he took all the dead bodies from the early floors here."

"It also looks like he's been experimenting on them. but why?"

"Right, if he knows soul magic, it can't be immortality that he was researching."

They move up the levels, they find that the 14th floor is an alchemy station, and the 15th floor is a hall of trophies.

Albo and Kos move up to the 16th floor, also expecting some kind of station that the Demon Lord used to prepare himself.

But what they encountered was nothing like what they expected. The 16th floor had grass, the ceiling was a blue sky, and there was a small house at the far end near the stairs.

Albo and Kos were both confused. They wondered why a projection of a farm was on the 16th floor. After a few moments, Kos realizes the reason,

"I know this place. This building was near one of the villages before the war happened a thousand years ago. We must assume that this was his home before it all began. Where he grew up."

"I thought he was tortured and was forced into becoming a Demon Lord against his will."

"I think he was, but because he was tortured and forced at a young age, he naturally became this brutal and evil force. But I believe that part of him misses the life he had when he was still a child."

"Let's keep going, and I'm sure Trilrak isn't far from now."

They move up to the 17th floor to find nothing, no stations, no projections, not even a single weapon. But the floor was clean and shiny. It seemed like a noble's ballroom.

"It's hard to believe this guy is a Demon Lord. This tower feels like a tower a noble or king would own. Except for the torture room, of course."

"Me neither, I can't believe the Trilrak I fought lived in a place like this."

"We should go, he's probably expecting us, I mean, if he killed adventurers and knights on the first floor, there is no way he didn't notice us."

Kos looks at Albo and agrees with her. With that, they both head to the next floor.

Once they enter the 18th floor, they see that the entire room is made up of blue crystals and beautiful art painted on the side that represented stars.

But in the distance, they see a man, a man with pale white skin, red eyes, and long white hair. He sits on a throne that is made up of the same crystals the walls are made of, a few seconds later, he looks up and stares at Albo.

Albo feels cold; she gets an uncomfortable feeling and starts getting goosebumps all over her body.

"I know how you feel, kid. I just felt cold as well. The aura this guy gives off is no joke."

After a few seconds, Trilrak opens his mouth and tells both Albo and Kos,

"Looks like you have potential, yes, you're the one."

Albo and Kos take out their swords, both swords radiate of divine magic.

Trilrak stands up, he takes off his cape and draws his sword. The atmosphere of the room becomes dense, and the two heroes prepare themselves for the final fight against the Demon Lord.